Aug. 27, 2008, TDMN, Page 1A (jump)

1. B0827SA010PBB0827SA010PQ
A10 _ 08-27-2008 Set: 22:54:31
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10A Wednesday, August 27, 2008 _ dallasnews.com The Dallas Morning NewsFROM THE FRONT PAGE
and 5 marked — a mix.
“It’s so subjective how they
judge you,” said Ms. Carmi-
chael, a 19-year-old brunette
with sharp blue-green eyes and
a trim, athletic build, who was
told by one manager that she
wasn’t attractive enough to
work on the floor.
The debate centers on the
ethicsoflabelingteenagebeau-
ty more than on the possibility
of unlawful actions. At issue is
whether it’s morally justifiable
to define an “Abercrombie
look” these days, three years af-
ter a lawsuit settlement forced
the retailer to enhance diversi-
ty and amid ongoing debate
about Abercrombie’s market-
ing practices, which often in-
clude shirtless young men and
wistful-looking women in thin
outer garments.
Todd Corley, Abercrombie’s
vice president of diversity and
inclusion, said the “face” ques-
tion refers to the full presenta-
tion of an individual, not mere-
ly his or her visage.
The company says it is im-
portant to uphold the brand’s
image and maintain diversity
in its stores. Some sales repre-
sentatives are chosen to appear
in posters, ads and other mar-
keting materials.
‘Hierarchy of hotness’
Sales people function as the
store’s advertising and are
handpicked by current em-
ployees, said Joshuah Welch, a
26-year-old Dallas resident,
was hired two weeks ago as a
manager and told to recruit
people who walked into the
store looking “all-American,
clean, wholesome, or the girl or
boy next door.” He said stock-
ing employees, on the other
hand, are told not to speak to
customers.
“It’s a hierarchy of hotness,”
he said.
Cory Payne thought he
reached the upper tier when he
was recruited as a “model,” or
salesman, at the Dallas store.
Then he found himself in the
back storeroom.
“It wasn’t the job we signed
upfor,”saidthetall22-year-old
blond athlete. “We showed up
on time and we felt we were be-
ing punished for being good
employees.”
A weekly “secret shopper”
evaluation posted in the back
room also focuses on appear-
ance. Employees receive one
point for a “yes” to the ques-
tions, “Was the person in the
women’s front room attrac-
tive?” and “Was the cashier at-
tractive?”
These rating systems re-
main legal as long as they don’t
discriminate based on race or
gender.
“There’s no real problem to
discriminate against ‘ugly’ peo-
ple,” said Jahan Sagafi, a part-
ner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann
& Bernstein, the firm that re-
presented the plaintiffs in the
original diversity suit. “The
problem is when you define
beauty to incorporate white,
which it essentially does at Ab-
ercrombie.”
Ms. Carmichael and Mr.
Payne are both white and say
they don’t expect legal or finan-
cial compensation. Instead,
theybelievetheirdemotionsig-
nifies a disturbingly shallow
mentality in youth-focused re-
tail.
The job is “a cattle call and
you are hired based on looks,
not your ability to fold clothes
or work with people,” Mr.
Welchsaid.
Fitting a mold
He just quit his managerial
training program at the North-
Park store after his bosses told
himhewouldhavetoleaveifhe
didn’t get rid of his new blond
highlights.
“I need a job where I am ap-
preciated for the work I do, not
because I fit into their mold,”
said Mr. Welch, who previously
worked for Abercrombie in
Austin before appearing on a
season of the CBS reality show
BigBrother.
“I thought they had evolved,
buttheyhaven’t,”hesaid.
The company agreed in
2005 to pay $40 million to a
group of Latinos, blacks,
Asians and females who ac-
cused the company of advanc-
ing whites at the expense of mi-
norities.
Working on diversity
Company representatives
say they’re fostering a much
more diverse and accepting
workplace since the lawsuit,
with about 32 percent of the
floor staff now either Asian,
blackorLatino.
Last spring, the company —
which has more than 1,000
stores and 88,000 employees
nationwide — created a new
“look book,” a collection of im-
ages for managers to refer to
whenhiring.
“It’s an array of faces —
black, white, Hispanic,” Mr.
Corley said. “It gives a sense of
style, dress. It goes to a whole
standardofappearance.”
Although the company has
hired a diversity coordinator
and promoted more minorities
to management positions, it’s
unclear to what extent Aber-
crombiehasadapteditsimage.
A court-appointed monitor
wrote in his second annual
compliance report last August
that images of Asians and Lati-
nos were “almost entirely ab-
sent” in Abercrombie’s market-
ing. A third compliance report
is due at the end of the month.
Earlierthismonth,acivilrights
group filed a lawsuit on behalf
of a Muslim teenager in Okla-
homa who alleged she was de-
nied a job because she wears a
headscarf.
Unintended bias
Even physical evaluations
can tread on shaky ground be-
causetheyoftenunintentional-
ly discriminate, said Greg Go-
chanour, a lawyer with the
Equal Employment Opportu-
nity Commission and the su-
pervising trial attorney on the
2005case.
He called the rating system
“bizarre” and said he hasn’t
heard of other companies with
thistypeofaudit.
The streamlined image
book in each store is intended
totakeoutbias,saidMr.Corley,
as are partnerships with orga-
nizations such as the Anti-Def-
amation League. The company
also is working with George-
town University to establish
the country’s first diversity
managementprogram.
Ms.Carmichael,whoisback
at school in Arizona, said that
even if the company isn’t tech-
nicallyviolatingthelaw,it’sstill
sendingthewrongmessage.
“It just seems so superficial
and kind of stupid,” she said. “I
don’t think I’m the most attrac-
tive person in the world, but I
don’t think I’m so hideous you
have to shove me into a back
room.”
MONA REEDER/Staff Photographer
Joshuah Welch quit his job at the Abercrombie & Fitch at NorthPark Center after he was told to get rid of his blond
highlights. “I need a job where I am appreciated for the work I do, not because I fit into their mold,” he said.
Some see rankings
as an ugly practice
Continued from Page 1A Assessing employees’ looks
As part of a monthly Abercrombie & Fitch audit, employees are evaluated on whether they
are good looking. An audit obtained by a former employee from Dallas’ NorthPark store is
pictured below.
2. Do all MALE models currently working
have handsome faces? (0 and 5 circled)
3. Do all FEMALE models currently
working have beautiful faces? (0 circled)
KYLE ALCOTT/Staff ArtistSOURCE: Dallas Morning News research
“It just seems so superficial and kind of stupid. I don’t think I’m the
most attractive person in the world, but I don’t think I’m so hideous
you have to shove me into a back room.”
Kristen Carmichael, who was pulled from a sales position at the NorthPark Center store
think Detective Cole med-
dled in their cases against
Mr.Kelly,possiblyleadingto
the dismissal of two armed
robbery charges against
him.
And investigators with
Ardmore, Okla., police were
angered by what they
thoughtwasanefforttohide
from them Mr. Kelly’s al-
leged involvement in an at-
tempted cargo theft there
last fall.
Mr. Kelly, 31, a felon with
a lengthy criminal history,
was indicted last Wednes-
day on an aggravated rob-
bery charge for his alleged
part in the October Waxa-
hachie truck heist that
spelled the end of his infor-
mant role.
Detective Cole knew Mr.
Kelly was going to be in-
volved but didn’t interfere
because a task force he was
on wanted to track the sto-
len goods.
And he later hid his in-
formant’s involvement from
Waxahachie investigators.
DetectiveColehassaidinre-
portsthathedidn’tknowthe
truck theft would turn into a
robbery. He said last week
that he would like to tell his
side of the story but is under
orders not to discuss the
matter.
He is being investigated
by the sheriff’s internal af-
fairs division. Sheriff’s offi-
cials would say only that the
investigation continues.
Irving case
Irving police found
themselves at odds with De-
tective Cole after they ar-
rested Mr. Kelly last year in
connection with two Sub-
way restaurant robberies. A
man pointed a gun at em-
ployeesinbothcasesandleft
with cash, reports indicate.
Employees picked Mr.
Kelly from a lineup.
Within a day or two of
Mr. Kelly’s arrest, Irving De-
tective Boyce Wyatt received
a call from Detective Cole,
who told him that Mr. Kelly
was an informant for the
Sheriff Department’s North
TexasAutoTheftTaskForce.
Detective Cole seemed
concerned that the Subway
cases would jeopardize the
task force’s investigations,
Irving officials said.
A day or two later, Detec-
tive Cole went to the Irving
city jail and met with Mr.
Kelly without notifying the
Irvingdetectives.Irvingoffi-
cials called that a break with
professional courtesy.
“Generally, the investiga-
tors … work together on in-
terviewing suspects,” said
Capt. John Thorpe, head of
Irving’s criminal investiga-
tions unit.
A few months later, the
robbery cases were dismiss-
ed.
“This is unusual,” Capt.
Thorpe said. “These were
caseswherethesuspectused
a gun. Aggravated robbery
cases are a pretty big deal to
us.”
Handwritten notes in the
case file indicate that Mr.
Kelly’s informant status was
mentioned during discus-
sions about his charges.
Prosecutor Marc Moffitt
could not be reached for
comment.
The cases were dropped
one day after Mr. Kelly
pleaded guilty in August
2007 to a felony charge of
unlawfully possessing a .45-
caliber handgun, discovered
during a traffic stop in Ir-
ving.
The arrest in that case
happened about four
months after Mr. Kelly be-
came an in-
formant for
the sheriff’s
task force in
summer
2006, re-
ports show.
Mr. Kelly
received
probation
for the gun
crime,
which is punishable by up to
10 years in prison.
Cargo theft
Detective Chad Anthony
of the Ardmore Police De-
partment said task force of-
ficials were less than forth-
coming about an impending
cargo theft in the area.
“We don’t work things
like that,” Detective Antho-
ny said. “We work together.”
Mr. Kelly had told task
force officials that a group
was going to steal a Best Buy
load in Ardmore, Dallas
County Sheriff’s Depart-
ment records show. Lt. Tim
Stewart of the task force
passed that information to
Ardmore police last fall but
failed to mention Mr. Kelly
or that he knew the identity
of the thieves, Detective An-
thony said.
“Of course, we set up on
it for several days and nights
but nothing panned,” De-
tective Anthony said. “Three
or four weeks later, they did
it.”
Several men stole a semi
and trailer from a town just
south of Ardmore. They
then drove to Ardmore,
where they stole a second
semi.
When they arrived at the
Best Buy, the plan was to tie
up the guard and steal a load
of plasma TVs. But when
they got there, the guard
wouldn’t come out of the
guard shack, police said.
The group fled, fearing that
the guard might be contact-
ing police.
Ardmore police later ar-
rested a suspect in the case,
who gave them the name of
an accomplice. It was a
nickname Mr. Kelly was
known to use.
Detective Anthony
quickly learned about Mr.
Kelly’s informant work from
a Dallas police detective. He
said that when he called De-
tective Cole to tell him of the
botched robbery, the inves-
tigator suggested that they
set up a sting in which the
thieves would steal another
cargo load in Ardmore.
But the Ardmore officer
said that when he men-
tioned Mr. Kelly, Detective
Cole seemed to lose interest.
“As soon as I said Mr.
Kelly’s name, his attitude
changed with me,” Detec-
tive Anthony said. “I could
tell that I had just stuck my
foot in my mouth.”
He said his bosses
frowned on Detective Cole’s
idea of allowing a crime to
occur.
“We don’t want a million
dollars worth of property
leaving and something hap-
pens to the property … or
someone gets killed,” Detec-
tive Anthony said. “Hell,
they’re tying people up and
talking about bringing guns
down.”
He said he repeatedly
tried to contact Detective
Cole after that but never
heard from him again.
teiserer@dallasnews.com;
kkrause@dallasnews.com
Detective
kept snitch
on the job
Continued from Page 1A
LADARYL
KELLY is now
charged in
Waxahachie
case.
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